Benjamin G. Gardiner

Benjamin G. Gardiner It is with great sorrow that the family of Benjamin G. Gardiner announces his passing in Nashua, N.H. on May 20, 2011 after a 2 year battle with lung cancer. He was born in Waltham on August 28, 1936, the son of Augustus G. and Margaret J. (O'Donnell) Gardiner and attended the Whittemore Elementary and South Junior High schools and graduated from Waltham High School in 1954. Ben left Northeastern University to join the army in 1955 where he was stationed in Germany for two years with a rank of sergeant. He returned for a second tour of duty in 1965 with the army and was stationed in Vietnam where he met and married Honghai there. After leaving the service he was employed by the Bell Helicopter Co. and W.R. Grace & Co. in Iran where he and his wife lived for several years until their return to the states. Ben received his Bachelor of Arts and masters degrees in business and accounting from Bentley College. He relocated to Nashua, N.H., where he earned a Master's in Business Administration from New Hampshire College. He established an accounting business which he operated out of his home and became a Professor of Accounting at Franklin Pierce University where he worked for 24 years before retiring this past year due to health reasons. He was a member of the New Hampshire Society of Certified Public Accountants. He had many hobbies that included skiing, and golf and, in his later years, tennis. He became skilled at woodworking and set up a shop in his barn where he enjoyed making furniture and gifts he liked to give to family and friends. Besides his second wife Hai, he leaves two sisters, Mary G. Stevens of Westport, CT and Ruth G. Irvin of Two Rivers, Wis., and a brother, John T. Gardiner and his sister-in-law Mary (Saulnier) Gardiner both of Waltham and many nieces and nephews. He is pre-deceased by two brothers and two sisters, William and Robert Gardiner and Helen Phillips and Emily Gardiner. He will be greatly missed by his family.